Betfair Half Year Results
12/13/2012 : BETFAIR RELEASES HALF YEAR RESULTS
Changes and re-focusing in major online gambling group
One of the largest operators in the online gambling industry, Betfair plc, released its interim results for the six months ended 31 October 2012 on Thursday, showcasing important changes and commitments to growth for its investors.
Financial highlights included:
* Changed approach to reporting: focus is on Group numbers rather than Core
* Share based payments are included in underlying financials
* A more conservative approach to the capitalisation of future development costs
* Group revenue from continuing operations up 5 percent to GBP 200.6 million, driven by a strong sports and mobile performance
* Group underlying EBITDA from continuing operations down 2 percent to GBP 42.3 million, as marketing investment offsets revenue growth
* Group underlying earnings per share down 25 percent to 17.4 pence due to a higher depreciation and amortisation charge following increased capital expenditure
* Interim dividend up 25 percent to 4.0 pence per share Non-cash impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets of GBP 80.6 million
* Current underlying trading is in-line with expectations: revenue up 7 percent in Q3 to date after adjusting for regulatory impacts in Spain, Germany and Cyprus.
Strategic highlights were:
* Management's plan to reinvigorate the business, with three key elements:
Focus on regulated jurisdictions to increase sustainability of revenues
Invest in product and brand to enhance competitive position and drive growth
Introduce greater accountability and become a leaner and more dynamic business; c.GBP 20 million of savings identified to date
*Exiting from investments in LMAX and Kabam
Breon Corcoran, Betfair’s new Chief Executive Officer, said:
“This is a solid set of results for the first six months of the year. We are now pursuing a new and more focused strategy to address the business’ challenges and exploit its market opportunities.
“The review we have carried out over the past four months has demonstrated a number of strengths. Betfair has a unique product offering, strong brand affinity and scale in the UK. However, we have also identified a number of areas requiring change and fixing these will take time.
“Recent regulatory developments have been challenging and we are reducing our exposure to markets with an uncertain regulatory future. We will focus investment within regulated markets with sustainable revenues.
“Creating a simpler product that retains the key advantages of the exchange, combined with investment to return the brand to its previously strong position, will allow us to increase our audience and accelerate revenue growth."
